Sports and Outdoors

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Following progress on the largest conservation project ever undertaken in Indiana is now just a click away.

Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the ground-breaking Healthy Rivers INitiative in June 2010. The Department of Natural Resources effort includes a partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and The Nature Conservancy, as well as other resource agencies and organizations.

HRI involves working with willing landowners to permanently protect 43,000 acres in the floodplain of the Wabash River and Sugar Creek in west-central Indiana, and another 26,000 acres of the Muscatatuck River bottomlands in southeast Indiana.

The website, healthyrivers.IN.gov, features an interactive map, maps of the project areas and photos, and lists information for landowners on the benefits of the initiative, as well as instructions for donating.

HRI projects involve the protection, restoration and enhancement of riparian and aquatic habitats and the species that use them, particularly threatened, endangered, migratory birds and waterfowl. This initiative also will be beneficial to the public and surrounding communities by providing flood protection to riparian landowners; increasing public access to recreational opportunities, such as hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, boating, and bird watching; and leaving a legacy for future generations by providing a major conservation destination for tourists.